Car bumper and coupling.



No. 657.766. Patented Sept. ll, I900. W. C. GREGG.

GAB BUMPER AND COUPLING.

(Application filed Feb. 5, 1900 (No Model.)

UNITED? STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. GREGG, OF HONOLULU, HAWAII.

CAR BUMPER AND COUPLING.

SIECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,766, datedSeptember 11, 1900.

Application filed February 5, 1900. Serial No. 4,112. (No model.)

To to whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM C. GREGG, a citizen of the United States,residing at Honolulu, in the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Car Bumpers and Couplers, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact specification, whichwill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

The invention relates to the construction of a combined car-coupler andspring-bumper.

The objects of the invention are to provide a car-coupler andspring-bumper to be at tached to and wholly outside the end of the car,that shall be composed of few parts, simple and compact in construction,and one that will eliminate or reduce the concussion or jar on the carsincident to the sudden coming together of the cars or resulting from thejerk caused by starting when the cars are coupled together. I accomplishthese objects by the construction and combination of the partshereinafter described, and pointed out definitely in the claims.

The improved coupler and bumper is used principally on cars on sugarplantations for transporting the cane to the mills and has been foundparticularly adapted and valuable for this purpose and superior to otherspring-bumpers owing to the reduced length and the small number ofparts, making it less liable to get out of repair and more easilyrepaired, if perchance the cars meet with acaccident.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a planview of the ends of two cars coupled with the improved bumper andcoupler. Fig. 2 is a horizontal vertical section on line w 00 of Fig. 1,showing the springs compressed by the drawing apart of the draw-headswhen coupled with the link, as hereinafter described. Fig. 3 is asectional View taken at right angles to that shown in Fig. 2 and showingthe springs compressed by pressure of the draw-heads when two cars cometogether with a sudden jar; and Fig. 4 is an outline of two modifiedways of attaching the permanent link, as hereinafter mentioned.

Similar letters of reference designate similar parts throughout thedrawings and specification.

The improved bumper and coupler consists of a housing A, bolted orotherwise rigidly secured to the end beam of the car, one at each end ofcar. The housing A is provided with a chamber a, open in front at a and.provided at the rear with the cross-bar a which extendsinto thechamber.The housing.

of such dimensions that it will readily slip into the chamber a of thehousing. The rear end of the extension Z) is open in the middle,

as shown, and is provided with vertical flanges bf b.. In the middle ofthe front of the opening in the extension I) is an olfset N. The head orforward portion of the draw 'head B is provided with a mouth bextending, horizontally the entire width of the face, and

has a permanent link pivoted therein. In the construction shown in thedrawings,which I consider a preferable form, the permanent link ispivoted in the following manner: The upper lip b is provided with a slotandthe lower lip b has acorresponding slot N. A pin 0, having a head a,is passed down through the slot b through the link L, and then throughthe slot 6 A washer c is then put over the lower end of the pin 0 and asplit pin 0 passed through a hole in the pin 0. This permanentlyattaches the link to the draw-head, but at the same time admits of ahorizontal movement of the link throughout the field of thecorresponding slots 1) and b Within the extension I) of the draw-head isa helical spring S, the inner end of which bears on the flanges b b andthe outer end on the shoulders b 19 In assembling the parts theextension I), with the inclosed spring S, is slid into the chamber a ofthe housing until the holes a and a register with the offset 17 and apin or bolt 61 is passed through the openings a and a and the offset 1)and made rigid with the housing A.

I will now proceed to describe the operation of the improved device.

The cars are coupled together by means of either one of the permanentlinks and a loose coupling-pin e, one of which is attached by a chain toeach of the bumpers. One or the other of the permanent links is alwaysidle at each coupling and is turned to one side out of the Way. Theobject of having the permanent link on each bumper is threef0ld first,there is no danger of two bumpers coming together with no link ineither; second, the links are not liable to be removed and lost, and,third and most important, where the bumpers are used on cars forconveying sugar-cane to the mills the links cannot be removed and laidon the car and afterward carried off with the cane through the rolls andcausing great damage to the machinery. After the cars are thus coupledtogether and when the faces of the draw-heads of two cars come togetherwith a sudden jar the extension 1) of the draw-head is forced into thechamber a of the housing. This motion causes the inner end of the springS to cushion on the cross-bar a compressing said spring between thecross-bar and the shoulders b 17 The compression of the spring S easesthe jar before it is transmitted to the car. suddenly jerked, thetendency is to pull the draw-head out of the housing A; but the forwardend of the springS comes in contact with the rigid pin d, causing saidspring to be compressed between the pin cl and the flanges bIb, and thusease the concussion which would otherwise be directly transmitted to thecar.

In the manufacture of my improved bumper and coupler I can conceive ofvarious minor modifications and additions of parts not shown ordescribed herein, but which will not depart from the scope or intentionof my invention. As, for example, a plate may be insorted in theextension I), resting onthe flanges the inner end of the spring S. Twomodified forms of attaching the permanent link are shown in outline inFig. i which I do not an- However it will readily be 1 seen that theycould be used with the other ticipate using.

parts of my invention and be operative and within the scope of myinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In a car bumper and coupler wholly attached to the outside of thecar, a draw-head provided with a permanent link and a rearward-extendingspring-case, in combination with a housing bolted to the end of the carand adapted to receive the aforesaid springcase, a helical springresting on flanges within the spring-case, a cross-bar rigidly attachedto the housing back of the spring and a pin or bolt rigidly attached tothe housing and extending down in front of the spring, sub-- stantiallyas described.

2. In a car bumper and coupler, the combination of a draw-head, ahelical spring held within an inward extension of the draw-head,-

a housing attached to the car and adapted to receive the inwardextension of the drawhead, a cross-bar at the rear of the housing, a pinor bolt rigidly attached to the housing and passing through thedraw-head extension forward of the spiral spring, substantially as"described.

When cars are coupled together and 3. In a car bumper and coupler, thecombination of the draw-head having a horizontal opening entirely acrossits face, a slot in the upper lip,a corresponding slot in the lower lip,a pin passing through said slots and through an interposed link, meansfor retaining said pin loosely in said slots, a helical spring held 'ina rearward extension of the draw-head, a

housing attached to the car, a chamber in said housing adapted toreceive the rearward extension of the draw-head, a cross-bar at the rearof the housing, a pin or bolt rigidly attached to the housing andpassing through an opening in the draw-head extension forward of thespiral spring, substantially as described. b b, and form a largerbearing-surface for In testimony whereof I aifix my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM G. GREGG. Witnesses:

L. A. STRATTON, L. F; GRIsWoLD.

